My Sherlockian Future...

As many of you know I have been a Sherlockian for almost three decades now. I found my favorite part of the hobby very early on, and I have never looked back. Sherlockian chronology is in my blood. In my DNA. I still get a little excited when a new timeline is found, and I love updating my database to accommodate the new version. But, I'm struggling with it all. Allow me to explain...

I wrote an article very similar to this for the Sherlockian Chronologist Guild newsletter TIMELINE. In it I said that I wasn't leaving The Game, but was considering backing off some. I have found myself interested in other things, and those other things take as much (or more) time to do/accomplish/research as this does. I don't feel like I have said everything that needs to be said about our subset of the greater Sherlockian world, but more and more players have arrived on the scene and are doing some amazing work for the cause. You're all in good hands. (I have always felt my "job" was merely to report on the intricacies of the dates themselves, and leave the deep work to better minds than mine. I'm like the accountant - I talk about how the numbers affect everything, while the Board members do the real work.)

Next month marks the anniversary of all of this. Back on November 27, 2011, this whole idea was born. I didn't know where it was going to go, nor have any idea of how big it would get, but I knew I wanted to talk about chronology. So, I started to...and I haven't shut up since. The database has grown to almost 60 of them, and I foresee more coming. I still want my computer to be where they arrive so I can put them with their kin, but if they don't I'll go out looking for them from time to time. What used to be an honor for a chosen few has now ballooned to dozens and dozens of others, and some of the places where timelines have been found has been quite surprising. Looking in the card files of Sherlockiana for chronologies is not as necessary anymore. New writers and thinkers of all types are getting into it. Should my database ever become totally public, I think everyone would be pleasantly shocked at where they've popped up.

I'm not leaving. Let me make that clear. I am merely reducing the visibility of what I do with my part of all of this. I will still update the database and continue to hunt for ever more elusive timelines out in the big scary world. I will still write about it for anyone or any publication that wants me to, and would happily still talk about it to any group that desires it. But, the major social media outlets are something I no longer want to deal with. (Brad Keefauver has put forth an interesting thought about how to continue to get my words out to everyone, and it's something I'm considering.) If what I do goes "underground" or whatever, then so be it. I think by now everyone knows that if they need something chronological that they can reach out to me and I'll help them out. If I don't have the data, I'll know who will, and can be a conduit. But, I am not interested in being a part of the social media quagmire.

So, basically it comes down to one month for me to make a decision. I like the idea of the anniversary being the limit, so I'm looking at that. I know I still owe you all Part 2 of the 'Cradboard Box' post from last month, but for now it's on hold. I'm sorry for doing that to you. (Really.) My brain will be consumed by this situation for the next 30 (or so) days, and I truly don't know what I'm going to do. I would like to hear your thoughts below, and if it's something deeper or more involved then you can contact me by email at historicalsherlock@gmail.com. Please come back and see me in November, and we'll find out what I've come up with. I'll see you then, and as always...thanks for reading.